Cefalù Cathedral
the church hall

The senses tell the church hall

smell
The scent of incense spreads through the space

Entering the interior of the Temple of Roger, starting from the Porta Regum on an upward path towards the apsidal basin, we are enveloped by the spicy scent of incense that wafts through the basilica-like space of the Cathedral. The atmosphere, too, is charged with symbolic elements that invite us to embark on an exodus-like journey from darkness to light.

touch
The decorations of the aisles

the walls of the aisles, still unfinished pending a mosaic decoration which was never carried out, were designed and embellished, according to 18th-century style, with the insertion of a number of chapels with wall decorations consisting of friezes, pilasters, frames and stucco sculptures of classical inspiration. As a result, the aisles were covered by a barrel vault with lunettes, concealing the original roof.

sight
Columns, sculptures, precious marbles: the decorations of the hall

Walking on the floor of the hall, made of limestone basalt and consisting of stone elements from different quarries, including the lumachella extracted from the Rocca di Cefalù, we can see, in the aisles, some funerary and sculptural movements that embellished the Church in the centuries following its construction. Among these, we can admire Gagini’s sweet Madonna and Child. The central aisle is defined, on each side, by a row of eight columns surmounted by pointed arches on which the masonry marking the upper space rises. The columns made of different marbles, such as granite and cipolin, come from the spoliation of earlier factories from the classical period. Looking up, observing the pitched roof of the Cefalù Cathedral takes us back in time to when it was built as an unprecedented work of art, in perfect dialogue with the structure of the central aisle walls. The solution adopted by the medieval carpenters, with their trusses, features an original pictorial decoration in bright colours which, through a close temporal connection, matches the stained glass windows made in the early 1990s by Palermo artist Michele Canzoneri, which capture our gaze by projecting us back in time, in the narration of biblical themes.

hearing
The sweet melody of the organs

In the Basilica of Cefalù, there are two pipe organs that are currently being restored. The organs were placed in the choir lofts, resting on four small columns, in the first inter-column on the south and north sides of the central aisle. The first organ can be credited to Raffaele and dates back to 1612, while the other, the work of his son, is dated 1614. Anthony’s choir, in cornu evangeli, has a five-bay elevation and ten registers on a sixteen-foot base.

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The side Portico: a combination of elegance and lightness of form

The area of the Sanctuary

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The mosaics of the apses

The decorated facade

The cemetery of kings

Roger II’s strategic design

The towers and the western facade

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

A compositional design that combines nordic examples with new artistic languages, over the centuries

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

A space between the visible and the invisible

The Bible carved in stone

The mosaics of the presbytery

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The paradisiacal “Conca d’oro” that embraces Palermo: a name with countless faces through time

Thirteenth-century iconography decorates the nave’s wooden ceiling, designed with new solutions

The beginning of the construction site

Squaring the circle

The senses tell Context 1

A tree full of life

Transformations over the centuries

Ecclesia munita

A palimpsest of history

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The king’s mark

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

Palermo: the happiest city

From the main gate to the aisles: an invitation to a journey of faith

Mosaic decoration

A Northern population

The columns of the nave: the meticulous study of the overall order

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The southern portico

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

Interior decorations

The rediscovered chapel

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The Great Restoration

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

A new Cathedral

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

Survey of the royal tombs

The Cathedral over the centuries

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

A controversial interpretation

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

Worship services

The marble portal: an intimate dialogue between complex ornamental aspects and formal structure

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The Chapel of the Kings

Tempus fugit: a strategic project implemented in a short period of time

A remarkable ceiling

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Cefalù cathedral: a construction yard undergoing a change between a surge of faith and control over the territory

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The stone bible

Biblical themes enlivened by the dazzling light of the stained – glass windows overlooking the naves

The cultural substrate through time

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The architectural modifications ti the cathedral building after the death of Roger II and the transformations of the cloister

The chapel of the crucifix: an artistic casket based on a previous model

The original design

The side aisles

The lost chapel

The plasticism of the main portico and Bonanno Pisano’s Monumental Bronze Door

The Virgin Hodegetria

The balance between architecture and light

The longest aisle

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The links between the hauteville family and the monastic orders in Sicily

Under the crosses of the Bema